


Gold hatted, High bouncing

by Al_O_Vera



Category: The Great Gatsby (2013), ビースターズ | BEASTARS
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Great Gatsby Fusion, Angst, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt, F/M, M/M, Pining, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:28:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22578601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Al_O_Vera/pseuds/Al_O_Vera
Summary: It's 1922, and Wall street is booming with a golden roar luring the young and ambitious.  Louis moves to West Egg to make a career as a stock broker when he meets a gentleman of a wolf to wake something up that'll change the deer's life forever.
Relationships: Haru/Legosi (BEASTARS), Legosi & Louis (BEASTARS), Legosi/Louis (BEASTARS)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I know I'm not giving this fic that much attention, but I'm going to try to tweak some of the chapters so they read a little bit better than before

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice, 'When you feel like criticizing anyone remember that all the animals in this world haven't had your advantages.' In consequence I'm inclined to reserve all judgements and find the best in people... but even I have my limits." 

A snow storm starts outside of the stately Victorian building, the sign out front saying "The Cherryton Sanitarium". In one of the Doctor offices there are two animals, a red deer leaning against a fireplace shrouded in darkness hand covering his face, and a panda doctor holding a clipboard with a paper saying, 

"LOUIS (32), unkempt fur, morbidly alcoholic, fits of rage, depression."

"Back then all of us drank too much," the deer continued, "the more in tune with the times we were, the more we drank, and none of us contributed with anything new." Louis holds a pensive face, "When I came back from New York I was disgusted, Disgusted with... everyone, everything... only one man, a wolf, was exempt from my disgust."

The panda looks up from his notes, "A wolf...? Mr. Louis?" In almost a whisper the deer speaks out, "Legosi..." The panda writes the name down, "Was he a friend of yours?"

"He was... the single most hopeful animal I have ever met.. and am ever likely to meet again. There was something about him..." 

The deer gets off the fireplace and slowly wanders to the window of the office, remembering, haunted. "A sensitivity..." the deer continued, "He was like one of those machines that registers an earthquake happening tens of thousands of miles away."

"Where did you meet him?" the panda asks. The deer, looking contemplatively out of a window, responds, "At a party, in New York."

  
  


It's the summer of 1922 and the end of the Great Carni-Herbi war throws the tempo of New York City into a manic hysteria with a newly brought economic and interspecial prosperity. Stocks hit record peaks and Wall street boomed, in a steady golden roar. 

Dancing girls, speakeasies, bootleg kings, fat stacked caddies counting fresh fortunes while the stock market kept climbing up, up, up! The parties were bigger; the shows were broader; buildings were higher; morals were looser; And of course the liquor was cheaper. Wall street was luring the young and ambitious, and a certain red deer was among the masses. A clear-eyed, hopeful, 24 year old Louis.

Louis rented a house twenty miles from the city on long island, in an old grounds keeper cottage on West Egg, hemmed between the mansions of the newly rich.

"I bought a dozen volumes of books on credit, banking, and investment to get started. At the time the career was new to me. At Yale I majored in theater arts and wanted to be an actor, but I gave all that up, instead I planned to spend the summer studying to be a stock broker. And I probably would have were it not for the riotous amusements that beckoned from beyond the walls of that colossal castle. Owned by a gentleman I have yet to meet, named..."

  
  


Louis is still staring out the window of the office, watching the snow fall to the ground. "Legosi." "So... He was your neighbor?" the panda inquires.

"My neighbor? Yeah... Legosi was... well..." Louis took a deep breath before continuing, "The summer started when I drove over to my close friend Haru's for dinner... in East Egg."

  
  


The impressive old Georgian mansion overlooked a quarter mile of lawn that cascaded down to a large football field. A phone is ringing outside of the grand house on a landing atop the front stairs while a Bengal tiger was running at rapid speeds down the field and vigorously throws the now oscillating ball, and is impressively caught by a rhino butler standing next to the phone. 

Bill was the 25 year old heir to one of America's wealthiest families. He went with Louis at Yale and was also in drama, but he had more athletic tendencies in mind. The tiger was a sporting star when he graduated, but those glory days were behind him now and he contented himself with... other affairs.

Bill walks to the phone and aggressively answers it, "I thought I told you never to call me here..." He said in an almost cross, whispery tone.

Louis pulls in with an old Dodge and is escorted up the driveway. Bill sees the deer and hangs up the phone, then strides towards Louis on the stairs and grasps his hand with overbearing strength.

"Adler!" Bill calls Louis, "How's that acting career working out for you?"

"Oh, I'm selling stocks now Bill... With the Gon outfit."

"Never heard of them." Bill slaps Louis' back with irritating heartiness, "Hey! What say after dinner we go into town and catch up with the old troupe?

"Can't-" Louis says as Bill is slightly pushing him down a hallway, "Big day on the new job tomorrow..."

"Nonsense! We're definitely going."

The duo turn into a grand hall with the walls lined with the trophies that chronicle Bills infinite sporting achievements. 

"First team, All-American!" Bill exclaims as he admires his own achievements. He pulls said award out, "You see? Made me who I am today." Bill puts back the award to pull another trophy, assumed to be his favorite with how he goggles over it, "And here, Forest Hills... Played the Beastar from Wales. What a sissy!" Bill then exchanges the trophy for a signed football. "Life is something you dominate Louis..." The tiger pelts the deer with the ball in which Louis barely catches . "If you're any good!" 

Louis fumbles as Bill charges him, heartily laughing. He tackles the deer through a pair of vaulting doors and into a shimmering, sun-dazzled room with open doors leading outside and enormous white curtains whipping to and fro in the breeze.

Louis stood, frozen, awestruck, then hears the shrill giggling of what could be mistaken as naughty sorority girls. 

The French style doors shut with a boom and the curtains fall in tow. A beautiful white hand rises from behind the couch; a wedding ring with a large diamond adorning the ring finger; and a low, thrilling voice...

"Oh Lou... is that you, my lovely?"

Suddenly, the head of 23 year old Haru appears from over the couch. Her dark, yet bright eyes; passionate smile; and ivory fur were framed with a strawberry blonde head band hugging her ears down. Haru was captivating...

"Do they miss me in Chicago?" She whispers, dramatically. 

"Oh yes," Louis responds humorously, with a smile, "About a dozen people send their love." 

Haru, with an unimpressed expression, "How gorgeous."

"They're absolutely in mourning..."

"No!" Haru, now in a dramatically playful mood.

"They're waiting..." Louis slowly striding towards the couch.

"I don't believe you-" 

"They're screaming, they're shouting, 'Haru, we can not live without you!'"

"Oh, I'm paralyzed with happiness!"

Haru grabs Louis' hand and squeals with childish glee as she drags him over the sofa and onto his back on the floor.

He stares up... and a mysterious, athletic, wolf girl is glaring back. This is 22 year old Juno; a very famous golfer.

Louis stares at the most frightening person he has ever seen. He then stands up and rights himself while extending his hand. "I've seen your face on the cover of 'Wild Sporting'. I'm Louis."

Juno merely yawns and stands, and Louis thinks internally about how good she looks.

"I've been lying on the sofa for as long as I can remember.." Juno says in an almost bored expression.

Haru turns to Louis with scandalous delight, "I know! This summer I'll fling you and Juno together..." Bill is preparing drinks while skittishly looking at the white telephone sat ostentatiously upon a marble pedestal. Haru continues, almost running around the wolf/deer duo, "I'll push you into linen closets, and out to sea in boats..."

"I'm not listening to a word!" Juno says while dramatically turning away from the two herbivores.

Irritated, Bill finally chips into the conversation, "Louis, Haru tells me you're over in West Egg. Throwing your lot in with those social-climbing New Money types...?"

"Well, my little shack is a cardboard box at eighty a month."

"You're life is adorable." Haru chimes in.

Juno is toying with a golf club and speaks with bored contempt, "I know somebody in West Egg."

"I don't know a single animal-" Louis attempts to say.

"Oh, you must know Legosi." Juno interrupts.

Haru stops, and with a sharp intake of breath says, "Legosi?" She is visibly struggling to control the rising of some emotion, "What Legosi?" 

Before anyone could reply to the bunny's inquiry the rhino butler comes in and announces dinner. With a seemingly satisfied smile Juno whacks a golf ball skillfully into a trophy across the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first ever fic.


	2. Chapter 2

Night has fallen and the group is sitting at a long, sumptuously laid table in a terrace right outside the white curtain room. Food, wine, laughter, and smoking present along with the conversation of friends. 

"Oh Lou, I heard a rumor that you were getting married to a girl out west..." Haru started with a sly grin.

"It's a libel, I'm too poor for such attachments." Louis replies.

"Maybe it's not a girl at all...?" Juno quips out.

Louis turns exasperated. "Can't we talk about something else? Anything? Crops? You're making me uncivilized-"

This draws a violent interjection from Bill. "Civilization going to pieces!" All heads turn to his remark. "Have you read 'The Rise of the Oceanic Empires' Louis?" 

Louis draws a confused face, "Why no.."

Bill stands up and begins to pace, "Everyone ought to read it. The idea is that it's up to us, the dominant land species, to watch out, or these..." Bill straightens the bow-tie of what looks like an elephant seal servant, "Sea folk will have control over us all."

Haru holds a bored face, as if this isn't the first time Bill has been on a tirade before, "Bill's been very profound lately. He reads deep books with long words in them." 

"It's been proved." Bill continues, "Scientific!"

Haru leans in, "We've got to keep them flushed." She whispers mockingly.

Suddenly BRINNGGG! The telephone. All freeze at the shrill sound. Then another BRINNGGG!

"Excuse me..." Bill quickly says as he goes inside to answer.

"I'm sorry..." Haru follows Bill inside.

Louis is at a loss. He turns to Juno, "So this Mr. Legosi you spoke of happens to be my neighbor..."

"SHH!" Juno interrupts, "Don't talk. I want to hear what happens." 

The Carni-Herbi couple can be seen arguing passionately about something beyond the glass.

"Is something happening?" Louis asks.

"I thought everybody knew." Juno surprised.

"I don't."

"Bill's got some woman in New York." Juno finally clarifies.

"Some woman?" Louis, now surprised.

"She might have the decency to not telephone at dinner-time... Don't you think?"

Before Louis could grasp her meaning, the door opens and both rabbit and tiger return to the table.

There is a tense gayety about Haru, "I just love seeing you here Lou. You remind me of a rose, an absolute rose... Doesn't he?

"I'm not even faintly like a rose-"

"So..." Bill interjects, "After dinner Louis wanted to go into town. Right Louis? To the Yale club."

"Lou, please stay-" Haru says in a raring tone.

"I have to work early-"

"Come on Adler! It's only for a drink or two."

Bill and Haru stare at the red deer. Both demanding his allegiance.

Suddenly the phone rings again: BRINNGGG! All freeze again at the shrieking of the fifth guest’s metallic urgency...

  


After dinner the servants cleared the area; Bill and Juno retire to the mansion's salon; and the herbivores take a stroll outside to the water side.

"Oh Lou..." Haru confides.

"What is it?"

"It's just... Well, you see." Haru is finding the right words. "I think everything's terrible anyhow. You know I've been everywhere, seen everything, and done everything, and I've had a very terrible time Lou..." Haru looks to the water, "I'm pretty cynical about everything." She gazes across the bay, a melancholic expression on her face. 

There is an awkward silence before Louis attempts to change the subject. "Your daughter; I suppose she talks, and... eats, and everything?"

The laws on marriage at the time allowed different gendered cross-species couples to wed, but still kept hybrid children at an illegal view-point. So the women have to get an artificial insemination of their species if couples wish to have children.

"Little Sally? Oh yes..." Haru leans on a stone balustrade and gazes down towards the dock, where a green light glows in the velvet dusk. "Listen Louis, when she was born Bill was god knows where... With god knows whom-" She looks saddened. "And I asked the nurse if it was a boy or a girl... And she told me it was a girl, and I wept." Haru turns back to Louis. "I'm glad it's a girl, and I hope she'll be a fool. That's the best thing a small rabbit girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool." Louis looks to Haru, and she has that trademark smile of hers. "All the bright precious things fade so fast... And they don't come back." 

Both look to the bay, watching as the tide wax and wanes under the crisp light of the moon.

  


Louis, already heading home after his and Haru's talk, got out of his car in front of his house and stops. Through the trees, he could see the intimidating silhouette of a canine on his neighbor's dock. It was gazing intently across the bay, and Louis dares to step closer to watch this man. Soon the figure raises his arm. "He seemed to be... reaching for something toward the darkness of the bay..."

  


Louis has a troubled face and is now tapping the glass of the office window. The snow letting up.

"The Green light."

"The Green light?" The panda asks.

Louis is visibly struggling with the memory. "I don't want to talk about this doctor." Louis looks at the panda. "I... Can't talk about this." 

"Then write about it." The doctor responds delicately.

Louis holds a skeptical expression, "Write about it? Why would I do that?"

"Writing about it may bring you some much needed solace."

"Yeah, well. It won't bring anyone else solace." The deer looks to the side as he said this.

The doctor then offers a pen, in which the deer didn't accept. "No one ever has to read it Mr. Louis, You can always burn it."

This brought a slight smirk to the deer, which went away as fast as it came, "What would I even write about?"

"Anything. Whatever you can't quite talk about; a memory; a thought; a place... Write it down."

Louis considered the task a challenge... "A place..." and hesitantly takes hold of the pen.

  


Louis had a dorm in the sanitarium, he set out a spot on his sofa with a stack of empty journals on one end of a coffee table. The deer sits; opens one of the never been used books; and, after some hard contemplation, begins to write.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't know how to do a page break line


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was interesting to put together

"The Valley of Ashes was a grotesque place."

  


Halfway in between West Egg and Long Island, there is a vast dumping ground comprised of massive mounds of smoldering ash that the burnt coal powering the roaring Golden City leaves as waste; train tracks cutting through the lot bringing people seeking fortunes in the city; poverty and hopeless people moving about dimly, crumbling; and the gleaming shimmer of New York's towers in the distance, just out of reach.

This fantastic farm was ever watched by the gigantic paint peeling billboard of "Chef Legom". A forgotten cook whose minimalist avian silhouette brood over all, like the very presence of god is among them.

Bill and Louis sat opposite each other on the carriage of a train that has made a stop right in the middle of the grounds. Bill, flushed with heat and booze, glances covertly around the car as if a spy on a mission watching for adversaries. Louis was invited under the pretense that the two were going to drink at the Yale Club, but the day takes a rather unexpected turn...

As the carriage starts to move, Bill pulls Louis to his feet and moves off the moving train.

"Come on!" Bill urgently says.

Louis is rather bothered as the train pulls away, "What are we even doing?".

"Just trust me!".

"Wait a second would you!" Louis cries out to the swift moving tiger.

"Dominate, Louis!" Bill calls back with an almost youthful vigor, "Dominate!"

The pair arrive outside a garage with a sign that reads, "Tem's Auto Garage: Cars bought, sold, and repaired"

From behind an old wreck of a decommissioned Ford comes a nervous, disheveled alpaca in a mechanic garb. 

"Mr. Tem!" Bill addresses the alpaca, "How's the business?"

"Oh, I can't complain." Tem responds in an unconvincing manner. "When are you going to sell me that car?"

"I've got a man working on it as we speak."

Tem turns his head sideways slightly, "Works kinda slow, doesn't he?"

Bill puts on a cold expression, "Maybe I ought to sell it somewhere else then?"

"I didn't mean it like that! I just..."

Before Tem could finish he was interrupted by the clicking of plastic red heels corkscrewing down some stairs from above. All heads turn towards the arrival.

"If it's business you're talking, you should be talking to me." The Angora goat is in a dazzling red dress to match her strapping one strap pumps. "Tem darling, get us some chairs so that somebody can sit down..." Els is smiling while slowly walking around her husband as he goes into the back. Without turning she calls out, "And hurry up would you!"

"Yeah, sure..." The alpaca calls back.

"Els... This is Louis..." Bill introduces.

"Pleasure..." Els says in a bored tone, but still smiling.

"Louis here is an actor."

"I'm in Stocks, actually..." Louis attempt to clarify, but Els is wholly uninterested.

Bill leans close to Els, "Get on the next train."

Els in a playful mood replies, "Now...? Aren't we getting that kitty plushie I spotted the other day?"

Bill gently grabs Els' chin, "What ever you want..." He glances at Louis and looks back to Els with a smirk, "You can even call that friend of yours, he might like him..."

Louis puts on a surprised, uncomfortable face, "Oh no, that's quite alright. I'm busy..."

Els gives Louis a hedonic smile, "Pina is said to be very good looking, to people who oughta know..."

"Really I can't-"

Bill turns to Louis and grabs his arm, "Do you really want to embarrass Els like that?" Bill says just shy of whispering, "That's rude Louis."

Louis lets out a defeated sigh, and begrudgingly goes along with Bill's wild, controversial scheme.

  


In a lavish pink striped apartment stuffed with pretentious objects, paid fully by Bill, there are a couple things to point out. The quite heated red deer sitting on a sofa with a plush, stuffed tiger on one of the lounge chairs across from him; and muffled sounds of the most animalistic sex that can be heard from the other side of the bedroom door.

Louis was blushing intensely under these arduous conditions. One, because his close college friend was in the other room having sex; Two, because his close college friend was having sex with someone other than his wife who happens to also be a close friend; Three, sex; and Four, because the plushie that Bill bought for Els seemed to be staring straight at the deer, judging him for his submissive decision to join the tiger on this progenitive adventure.

The red deer finally took the conviction to gather his coat, and head for the door. However, fate has a funny sense of humor, for as soon as he opened the door, a dishy Dall sheep in a green suit and bow-tie stops the deer from fleeing the soon to be den of iniquity.

"Hold up there stag..." the sheep says in a libidous tone, "Ain't we having a party?"

Louis is both taken a-back by the sudden appearance of who could be assumed to be Els' friend, and frustrated at the sheer unlucky circumstances to meeting him.

"I'm Pina. Don't worry, I get that a lot." Pina says to the deer, who is now self-aware at how his mouth was open.

"I'm sorry, but I have to get going." Louis was flustered at the situation and tried to get past the sheep but was blocked by two more participants to the evening's frivolities. A cheetah in a purple dress wearing a felt hat in similar color scheme, and a blue feminine peafowl in a pinstriped suit holding a camera.

"Well hi there!" The cheetah says in an almost cheerful manner, "I'm Sheila, this strapping bird is Dom."

"Nice to meet you!" Dom says in an equally cheerful, and epicene tone.

"Where are those dang kids?" The cheetah inquires as she enters with the bird following.

Louis still attempts to leave but Pina corners him. "What's the matter stag, don't you want to stay?"

Just then the bedroom door whooshes open and the Angora goat steps out wearing an astounding red jersey dress.

"Els Bells!" The cheetah sounds out, "That dress is adorable!"

Els with impressive hauteur says, "What, this? It's just some crazy old thing I slip on when I don't care how I look!"

Bill appears behind Els, arrogantly buttoning up his shirt. "Get us some ice Els, before everyone goes to sleep."

Louis is extremely rattled and tries to go for the door again, "Bill, I really need to get going..."

Bill grabs the deer before he exits the door, "Nonsense..." He then pulls Louis close and whispers, "Look Louis, I know you swing for the other team... I remember that from college..."

Louis' eyes widen, "Bill I..."

"That's OK Louis, I make no judgement... But we've got all summer. Do you want to sit on the sidelines, a spectator, and watch...?" Bill brings his other arm out to present the party of animals watching him from the living room, "or do you want to play ball?"

Pina chimes in, "It's more fun to participate~." Then with a wink pushes Louis onto a chair and shamelessly sits on his lap. "Take off your coat and stay why dontcha."

Bill brings out a gramophone and starts to play a record, "Hey Louis, Dom here is in the artistic game..."

"Oh I'm in Photography." The peafowl clarifies.

"Louis is artistic." Bill points out.

Dom puts on a surprised face, "Really?"

Louis is visibly uncomfortable, "Ah, n-no... Well, I'm kind of an actor..."

"Reaaally?" Dom coos out

Pina raises his voice over the rising of the music, "You live on long island too Stag?"

"I live on West Egg." Louis discloses to the sheep.

"Oh? I was there at a crazy party about a month ago. Some wolf named Legosi hosted it. You know him?"

"He's my neighbor..."

Pina leans closer to Louis and whispers, "I hear that he's a close cousin to Melon, the evil hybrid gangster."

Bill lifts up Els' skirt suggestively, "Hey Dom! Take a picture of this would you!"

Els giggles with girlish glee, "I'm not one of those models...!" She looks to Dom who is taking pictures of the scene, and with a raunchy expression follows up with, "But you can if you want to~." Which brings a pink hue to the peafowls face.

Pina continues to whisper into Louis' ear, "Els just can't stand the man she's married."

Louis becomes confused, "Why's that?"

The sheep leans back, "Have you seen that alpaca? He doesn't quite shine like any other herbivore. Even Bill, an ugly carnivore, is more appealing..." Pina looks back to see two unhappy carnivores, "No offence you two." Pina says with a wink.

Bill then grins and brings a drink in each hand, Louis takes his but Pina refuses.

Pina then turns and says, "Oh, I don't need to drink to have a good time." Then suggestively pops a small round object in his mouth, "Nerve pills. I get them from a handsome mouse in Queens. Want one~?"

Despite his shaky form Louis makes out, "My nerves are fine-" But is then interrupted when Pina puts a pill into Louis' mouth by kissing him and has Louis down his drink.

Louis has been drunk before, but this was a different intoxication. For this debauched night, he would be overwhelmed by the pill/alcohol mixture, and his own primal instincts to join in on the lascivious night of venery.

  


Hours pass through the evening as everyone is taken over by a chemical reaction that can only be taken as a shameless ardor. Soon Louis finds himself a break in matters and brings his lithe form past an equally disabille sleeping Dom to look out the window onto the streets lit only by artificial light. High over the city the yellow lights of the windows of the neighboring apartment complexes contribute their secrets to the casual watcher who is in the window, and in the streets below simultaneously. Louis was within, and without; absolutely enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life present... Millions of lighted windows line Manhattan’s skyline with millions of silhouettes in each one...

Suddenly Louis is taken from his stupor as he hears Bill violently yelling. The deer turns to see Bill and a half dressed Els.

"You have no right to say her name!" Bill yells at the Goat.

Els turns to Bill, "Haru! Haru! Haru! I'll say her name whenever I want! Haru! Haru! Ha-" But is viciously silenced when Bill brings his back hand to Els' small face and knocks her towards the ground, breaking the goats nose, blood flowing freely.

The drama is merely another part of the countless windows of the vast city.

  


Louis is woken up by the light coming through the trees. His eyes flutter open as he gets up and realizes he was sleeping on his porch with nothing but an undershirt and boxers. His button-up, trousers, tie, and jacket are on the railing in front of him while his car is parked in the bushes. Louis has no recollection as to how he got home.

He sees a paper next to him which has a telephone number and some words which say, "Call me you stag xoxo~" A distinct uneasy feeling, that surprisingly didn't come from the note, came from a window of the vast mansion. Louis looks up to see... the terrifying, featureless shade of Legosi. The wolf with equally terrifying rumors, was watching.

After a moment of what seemed to be the most daunting staring contest in history, a mongoose in a servant uniform appears in front of the deer, "Mr. Louis?"

Louis is suspicious of the sudden visitor, "Yes?"

The mongoose then procures an envelope sealed with yellow wax and golden lining, "Mr. Legosi would like to invite you to his party this evening."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The grand party

The castle glistened at twilight. Limousines stretching as far as the eye can see lined up in front of Legosi's gates all the way to Manhattan; Open-topped Rolls Royce motor cars and custom roadsters racing up the driveway to take part in the massive social event; Dozens of animals from every walk of life appearing with a caravansary of billionaire play-boy publishers and their nurses, heiresses comparing fortunes, gossip columnists, gangsters, governors, soon-to-be Beastars, film stars, directors, morality protectors, casino collectors, and high school defectors. They all have one obvious factor in common... Absolutely none of them were invited. None of them, but one.

Louis was unable to believe the impossible variety of life in front of him. Champagne fountains as high as the ceiling surrounded with drinking glasses that were being served by waiters; A custom Wurlitzer being played by none other than Jack the Labrador, dubious descendant of Beethoven himself; And an orchestra tuning up some famous dancing numbers. The red deer was utterly overwhelmed.

Louis waltzed over to the bar that was being tended by an owl. "Excuse me...!" Louis is trying to yell over the loud music being played, "Do you know where I might find the host, Mr. Legosi? I live next door...?"

"No sir, no one has ever seen him." The owl replies, handing the deer a Martini, "Even if he was wearing a dress, no one would recognize him."

Louis scoffs at the absurd answer and turns away. Now alone, and embarrassed, Louis decides to down his drink and get roaring drunk for the capricious rave.

  
  


Some time has passed and the guests keep rolling in as one massive horde. Louis is gazing over the inanely decadent party, and a masked guest is stalking toward the red deer.

"Thought I might see you here..."

Startled, Louis turns to find... Juno. "Well, hello..."

Juno takes off her mask, "I remembered you live next door..." Juno says, now walking next to the deer.

"It's like an amusement park here..." Louis says, astonished, "I've never seen anything like it..."

Juno then offers her hand, which Louis accepts, "Shall we?" They both walk down the marble steps.

Louis gets a curious face, "Did you get an invitation?"

"People aren't invited here Louis." Juno answers.

"Well I was... I seem to be the only one." Louis then looks up at the architecture, "Just who is this Legosi?"

A haughty looking eagle walks up to the pair and interjects into the conversation, "He was a spy during the war."

"Hello Aoba." Juno greets the eagle, "This is Louis, He lives next door."

Louis is looking incredulously at the bird, "A spy?"

A black panther, who can be presumed to be the eagle's friend, chips in, "No, no, no, no. He's Melon's button-man!"

A third of the East Egger trio, an anteater, "Yeah, I heard he killed a man once, and ate him!"

Aoba nods his head, "Kills for fun! Free of charge."

The panther laughs, "Well he's already richer than god, that's for sure!"

The trio all laugh and walk away from the wolf/deer couplet. Louis turns to Juno, "You don't believe any of that do you?"

Juno turns to Louis with an enticing smile, "Let's go find him so you can ask him yourself." The pair leave the area as the dance-floor erupts to the announced arrival of world-famous dancer, Cosmo.

  
  


Juno and Louis bound up a winding staircase, teasing each other like children. "Oh, Mr. Legosi...!" Juno says seductively, "Shall I lead you into his clutches Louis?"

The two explode into a dark library-like room to find a stout civet to be staring at them both with unsettling intensity, Martinis sitting everywhere.

"You won't find him...!" The civet says as he plucks two finger-bowl sized cocktails from atop a stack of books, "This house, and everything in it, are all part of an elaborate disguise... That Mr. Legosi doesn't exist."

"Oh phooey!" Juno calls out, "I've met him!"

"Which one?" The civet asks, "The Beastar?" He hands Louis a drink with a smile, "The Beagle?" Then he hands Juno the other drink, "or perhaps the Predatorial offender?" Slowly, the ghost cat walks to a bay window overlooking the festivities in the garden, "I've been wandering these halls for weeks and I can't seem to find anything real about our gracious host."

Juno, in a dismissive tone, speaks out, "Well I don't care; He throws large parties... And I like large parties." she turns towards the window, "There is an intimacy that small parties just don't have."

Louis, still lost, slowly asks, "But if that's all true; Then what even is all this for...?"

"That, my fellow deer, is the question..." The civet says while looking out the window. Louis and Juno follow his gaze to see the orchestra hitting fever pitch as the night reaches its height. The Party has finally begun.

  
  


As the music nears it's final crescendo, many of the fantastical beasts dance uproariously around the pool. On an elaborate flotilla, in the center of it all, both Louis and Juno can be seen kicking up a fantastic Charleston while the number finally peaks.

"Well I didn't expect this at all..." Louis manages to say in between steps.

Juno smiles coyly, "What did you expect?"

Breathlessly Louis makes out, "Not this!"

"Disappointed?"

Louis smirks, "Not in the slightest!"

The song ends and there is a wild applause. In the midst of the chaos Aoba the eagle takes hold of Juno, "I'm stealing her away Louis, you pantywaist!"

Louis takes chase to the fleeing pair as the orchestra leader announces another piece with accompanying fireworks.

"Look around you why don't you..." the eagle calls back going up a flight of stairs, "No rich girl, much less a carnivore, would ever get with someone as penniless as you-"

On cue a plate of drinks floats in front of Louis, effectively stopping him, and with a flurry of movement the drinks were gone leaving the drunk deer empty-handed. The blue-ish grey hand holding the plate had very well trimmed nails and the pinky had a black signet ring with a golden engraving in the shape of a beetle. Soon the plate is taken by another and the deer is left with a carnivore whose face is being left unseen as Louis is still looking in the direction Juno left in.

"Your face is familiar, were you in a Broadway production?" The new voice inquires.

Louis is still not looking, "Uh, Yes. I was in Adler some time ago."

"Ah, I thought you looked familiar. I was attending that production. You enjoying yourself, Old sport?"

Louis is very tipsy, "The whole thing is incredible. I live next door..." He pulls out the now crumpled, gold lined letter, "I was actually invited, but I still haven't been able to see this Mr. Legosi everyone is talking about." They both reach the landing at the top of the stairs. Louis is starting to walk away while talking back, "They say he's third cousin to Melon and second cousin to the devil!"

Before the deer could walk away the man hands Louis a drink, "I'm afraid I haven't been a very good host Old sport," This procures the deer to finally look at the wolf's smiling face, "I'm Legosi."

Almost as if a part in a Broadway production the opening chords to the orchestra coincide with a gorgeous fireworks display, illuminating the night sky behind the wolf.

Louis' jaw dropped at the wondrous display in front of him. The neatly groomed and slender wolf was giving Louis a rather special smile. One of those rare smiles that you only come across four or five times in a single lifetime. It seems to understand and believe in the deer, as he would have wanted to be understood and believed in. Louis' face was burning with the heat of booze and emotion from how he embarrassed himself in front of the Host.

The deer began muttering all sorts of apologies, "Oh...I'm very very sorry...I-I've had so much to drink I..."

Legosi puts up a calming hand, "It's alright Old sport, I thought you knew."

The wolf keeps up his dazzling smile, and all sound fades to a serene hum for the deer. Louis' heart was fluttering as he stared at the canine and the party seemed to be non-existent to him.

The bubble was popped though as a tall bear in an immaculate tail-suit appears and leans to Legosi's ear. "Chicago on the wire Sir."

"Thank you Riz." Legosi says with a nod. He then looks back to Louis and puts on his smile again. "I'm going out to lunch with a business partner tomorrow. Want to come along Old sport?"

Louis is stunned at the question but shakes it off, "What time?"

Legosi pats Louis' shoulder, "Around 10 in the morning, Old Sport. I can come pick you up." Legosi turns and sees Juno walking up, "Lovely to see you again Miss Juno." He then kisses her hand lightly. Legosi turns back to Louis, "If you need anything, Just ask for it, Old sport. I will rejoin you later... Excuse me." Legosi with a nod back to Juno walks away.

Louis is star-struck and whispers, "Wow. I expected him to be..."

"Feral and vicious?" Juno interjects.

Louis looks to Juno, now speaking regularly, "Well, Yes. Young carnivores don't just drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on long island!"

"Well, he isn't just some young carnivore now, is he?" 

The tall bear from earlier comes back and leans to Juno, "Miss Juno? Mr. Legosi would like to talk with you..." He glances at Louis for a moment, "In private."

  
  


The party dies down as the night reaches a close and all the guests leave almost as quickly as they came. Only the outrageously drunk patrons leave slower than the rest, or seemingly not at all. Louis is lying on a couch in the lounge room where there is a piano with Jack playing a soft melody and a drunk Cosmo trying to slur along with the music.

The deer finds enough energy to get up and go for the door as Juno come down the stairs and meets up with Louis in the entryway. "Louis! Louis!" She gets Louis' loose attention, "I've just heard the most astonishing thing! It all makes sense...!"

Aoba and his East Egger friends show up to hail Juno, "Juno...!" The eagle squawks out, "Where have you been? we have to get out of here before the rest of the drunks leave!"

The driveway is a mosh pit of drunken mayhem as cars are jamming out with drivers chaperoning intoxicated guests. Louis gives chase once again to the fleeing pair, albeit drunkenly, "Wait, Juno! What makes sense?"

Juno and the East Eggers pile into a drop-top covertable, "Everything!" She turns back to Louis, "But here I am tantalizing you when I swore not to tell." The car Juno's in pulls away and the she-wolf yells out, "I'm sorry Louis! Give me a call sometime, I'm in the phonebook!" And waves a final goodbye.

Louis is left behind, staring at nothing in particular, when a familiar voice startles him, "Sorry for keeping her from you Old sport, " Louis turns towards the voice to see the dazzling host, Legosi, holding his unique smile, "Don't forget now; We're going to lunch tomorrow..."

The bear shows up once more, "Philadelphia on the phone, Sir."

Legosi nods and puts his addicting smile back on, "Good night, Mr. Louis." He turns and heads back into the castle, leaving a befuddled, drunken Louis standing in the driveway. A crowd could be seen gathering around a coupe resting in a ditch, with the drunken civet examining the wreck and an equally drunk bat poking its head out the car window.

Louis stumbles across the lawn towards his house and stops to turn around one last time to look at the window where he first saw Legosi. As expected the wolf was there, not as a dark and intimidating shade, but now as an illuminated gentleman lit by the bright lamp next to him on a table, phone in hand. The wolf sees Louis and waves at him with the same compelling smile. Louis waves back with a blitzed smile of his own, turns around, and after a moment of failing reform goes to head home for the night with a strong effusive emotion towards the wolf.


End file.
